Number embossing, stamping, or imprinting machine



N. LEONARD AND v. ARKIN.

NUMBER EMBOSSING, STAMPING, 0B IMPRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-12, 1920.

1,368,169. Patented Feb. 8,1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I- N. LEONARD AND V. ARKIN.

NUMBER EMBOSSING, STAMPING, .OR IMPRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 12. 1920.

1,368,169 e Patented Feb. 8,1921. Y 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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NUMBER EMBOSSING, STAMPING, OR IMPRINTING- MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 8, 1921.

Application filed January 12, 1920. Serial No. 351,028.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that we, NATHAN LEONARD and Vrcron ARKIN both residing at Chi cago, Cook county, Illinois, and both citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Number Embossing, Stamping, or Imprinting Machines; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

I Our invention relates to methods and means for marking metal. plates or the like with serially increasing figures or letters, its general objects being to provide a simple method for automatically interchanging part of the imprinting elements and for enabling a cotiperating member to form a suitable counterpart for these changeable elements. Furthermore, our invention aims to provide a simple, durable and easily operated mechanism for this purpose which can readily be attached in operative position to an ordinary punch press without any machining or disfiguring of the parts of the press and without interfering with the use of the press for other purposes.

More particularly, ourinvention relates to methods and mechanisms sgitable for use in connection with an ordinary punch press in embossing metal plates (such as those coinmonlyused for displaying the license numbers on automobiles), and for this purpose aimsto provide simple and automatic means for successively feeding die portions bearing consecutive serial numbers into operative position on the bed of the press to provide simple means for connecting the die-feeding mechanism operatively to a moving part of the punch press, such as the ram of the latter; to provide simple means for halting each group of dies in operative positlon while permitting the die to do its work and while permitting the die parts to adjust themselves to variations in the thickness .or resistance of the metal which is being embossed; to provide simple means for detaching or exchanging individual die parts when desired; and to provide simple means for moving serial portions of the die out of the way after each stroke, so as to permit the ready feeding of the next set of die portions into operative position, Furthermore, our

1 invention aims to provide simple and positive means for halting the movable die portions previous to each impression of the plunger, to provide simple means for releasng the halted die parts at a suitable point 1n the operation of the press, and desirably to provide single means for accomplishing this releasingand for actuating the interchanging of die parts as needed for the conpress and to difi'erentsizes of thenumbers,

letters or other serial legends which are to be imprinted or embossed. Still further and also more detailed objects will appear from the followin specification and from the accompanying drawings, in which drawmgs- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a punch press, with side parts of the press broken away to show an embodiment of our inven tion as used in connection with this press.

Fig. 2is an enlargement of the center portion of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view taken from the correspondingly numbered line in Fig. 2.

Fig. i is anenlarged plan view of the operative side portions of the body of the press taken from the line H of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken along the lower edge of Fig. land along the corresponding face of the plunger portion of the die, with portions broken away to show the spring mounting of the frame portion of the die, this figure being taken with the die under compression;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged and fragmentaryvertical section taken along the correspondingly numbered line of Fig. 4..

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the die portions as used in another embodiment of our invention, namely one in which the lateral portions of the male die member are con tinuously seated on the bed of thepress andtaken on a smaller scale and showing theposition of these parts when the ram of the press is in its extreme downward position,

While the method andimechanism of our inventioncan be employed advantageously for a large variety of purposes, it is particularly adapted for use in the embossing of consecutively numbered plates, such as the license plates commonly required by the statutes of the difierent States for use upon automobiles. Such plates usually have outer embossed portions which are common to all of them and which include an abbreviation for the name of the State, the number of the year for which the license was issued, and a suitable ornamental border. These parts can easily be embossed after the usual manner by employing counterpart male and female portions secured respectively to the bed of the members and to the plunger. To vary.

the numbering on the individual plates, it

has heretofore been customary to use unchanged die parts for the above named portions and to arrange these die parts on a frame adapted to receive interchangeable parts carrying-the numerals. Consequently, at least one of these numeral portions, namely the one in the digit column, had to be changed after every impression, and a corresponding change also had to be made in the counterpart female numeral portion on the. cooperating part of the, press.

. In practice, this changing of the numerals consumes far more time than the embossing of the plates, so that the cost of making such consecutively numbered plates has been correspondingly high and increasingly so with the recent advances in labor. Likewise, the

daily output obtainable from a single punch pressh'as been correspondingly limited, thus making it difficult to secure prompt delivcries for license plates when required in lar e'quantities. I

s a substitute for this tedious, and'expensive method, our invention aims to provide numbering portion continuously interconnected with each other and adapted to be slid consecutively into operative positions, and to provide a counterpart die portion Which will function equally well with any of the different numbering portions and which therefore will not require any chan e. Furthermore, our invention aims to provide means associated with these numbering parts'for embossing or imprinting the border frame as wellas the legends which are to be common to all of the plates.

. eral purpose by guiding the numbering por- In either case, wedesirably interlink the faces adapted respectively to engage num- 130 tions between the side portions which carry the fixed letterin or numbering and whicln cooperate with the changeable numbering portions in bearing parts of the border or other ornamentation.

numerals with each other into bands, somewhat after the manner employed on rubber band daters, and support these bands alongside each other in such a position that a horizontal portion of the band will extend over the bed of the punch press. For example, in the embodiment of Fig. 1, the bed 1 of the punch press carries blocks 2 supporting a guide plate 3 having curved ends part for the die portions carried by the bands. Where a plate is to be embossed with a border,'the correspondingly engraved die portion 7 in the form of a frame is desirably supported upon one of the blocks 2 by springs 8, which springs normally hold the bottom of the frame 7 farther from the guide plate 3 than the height of one of the numbering die parts 9. Consequently, these numbering die parts can-readily be slid un-' der the frame by a longitudinal movement of the numbering bands. This movement might be. effected by hand at. a great saving of time over that required for handling entirely separate numeral die portions, but we preferably employ means for automatically moving at least one of the numbering bands between the successive strokes of the press, so as to change the effective numbering in a corresponding manner. When employing a borderframe, we desirably connect the successive numeral die parts 9 with each other through links 10 which are considerably less in heightthan the parts 9 and which maybe housed by recesses in the frame 7 when the latter is forced downward during the operation of the press, after the manner shown in Fig. 5. The projecting of each of the numeral die portions above the adjacent link 10 afiords a shoulder which shoulder we em ploy in connection with suitable driving means for securing the desired shifting of the numbering bands after each impression. 115

As a simple arrangement for this purpose, we fasten to the bed of the press a riser 11 having pivoted to it a substantially bellcrank lever 12 which has one of its arms pivotally connected by a link 13 with the 120 and hence will rock the lever 12 on its piv- 125" otal mounting. Pivoted to another arm of the bell-crank lever 12 are pawls 15, which pawls desirably are mounted on a single pin 16 as shown 1n Fig. 3 and have forward till intense bering portions of the several hands which are disposed along side of each other. For example, the pawl 17 normallyrests upon the top of a linlr 10 immediately back of one of the numeral dies as shown in Fig. 3. When the ram oi the press descends, the link 13 descends with it, thereby rocking the lever 12 to the position of Fig. 8 and causing the pawl 17 to ride over the top of one of the numeral dies and then to drop on a link behind the die over which it was, dragged. As soon as the ram of the press begins to rise, it lifts the linlr 13 and swings the arm 12 in a clockwise direction, thereby causing the pawl 17 to push the numeral die engaged by it toward the left By suitably proportioning "the lengths of these various parts, we can readily cause the resulting movement to shift one after another of the numeral die portions into operative position opposite the plunger of the press. However, the momentum of the heavy hand might tend to continue this in motion beyond the desired point, hence we desirably provide a positive stop for limiting the extent o1? each shitting movement of the hand. For example, we may pivot a stop lever 18 to the riser 13 in position for engaging a subsequentnumeral die part after the manner otl ig. 2. In this case, we desirably provide the arm 18 with a lower cam face adapted to be engaged by the pivot pin 16 during the rearward swinging of the lever 12, so that this rearward movement of the lever will lift the stop arm 18 out of operative position for a sufficient time to permit the previously stopped numeral die portion to slide under this arm 18. Consequently, with the arrangement as described, the pawl 17 and the stop arm 18 will cooperate in shittinu'the lower bandof Fig, 3 to the extent of one numeral with every reciprocation of the plunger of thepress.

While this is satisfactory for the digit column of the numerals, it is obvious that the numerals in the next column must only be'shitted one-tenth as often. We therefore provide the adiacent pawl 19 with a finger 20 which overhangs an edge portion of the numbering}; die portions in the digit column and normally rides on the face oi the latter, thereby preventing the pawl 19 from descending suiliciently to cause any movement of the die partsin the tens column. lrlowever, every die portion in the digit column containing: the numeral 1 is provided near its rear end with a recess adapted to admit the finger 20. Consequently, when any numeral 1 in the digit-column comes opposite the figure 20 of the second pawl 19.. the rec'ess in this numeral die will allow the pawl 19 to drop into engagement with the numeral die in front of this pawl in the tens column so that the forward movement ofthe pawl will shift the second band to the extent of one numeral. Notches are similarly provided in the number dies bearing the figures 1 in the tens column, so as to operate at the proper time for receiving the finger on the pawl 21' which controls: the movement of the band for imprinting the hundred numbers, and so on. 1

In practice, the bed of an ordinary punch press is so large in proportion to the size of the number or other consecutive legend imprinting die portions that'a single consecutive series of these portions would not make up a band of the size required for edectively encircling the bed of the press. We therefore desirably use multiples of such groups. For example, in Fig. 1 we are showing a band including 20 numeral dies, namely two consecutive series running from 1 to 0. 1ncidentally, it will be noted that the pawls which move the bands do so while engaging the rear of the numeral die portion which'is the second'trom' the one last operated. We therefore operate directly in moving the engaged die portion only into a preliminary position and not into the immediate operative position,henoe the notches orrecesses above described are" formed in the die parts numbered 1 and not in those numbered 0.

To insure a prompt movement of the rocking arm 12 during the descent of the plunger oi the press, we desirably employ a spring 1 1 for coiiperating with the weight of the link 13, and we desirably also employ suitable means (such as an adjusting screw 22) for effectively adjusting the. length of the link 13.

In operation, the metal blank 23 is laid upon the surface of the frame die portion 7 while the plunger of the press is in its raised position. and this blank is guided laterally with suitable means such as the pins'zz i of Fig". 4. As the ram of the press descends, the female guide portions engraved in the part 25 carried by the plunger oi the press will cooperate with the engraved portions on the frame 7 in embossing" their part of i merals on the operative numbering portion of the die so as to form a female counterpart for the latter. in practice, we have to'und that with the thicknesses and grades of metal ordinarily employed for such pur poses, such a rubber counterpart is sutlle ciently firm and yielding tor securing a sharp embossin of a considerable depth, hence we avoi the necessity of changing any of the die p'ortion's carried by the ram of the press and do not need to equip the latter also with a counterpart to the band arrangement looped over the bed of the press' However, while we have described the method and means of our invention as employed in connection with an open back punch press and as using a spring-supported ldil lllttl limited to this or other details of the method, construction or arrangement here disclosed, it being obvious that the same might be varied in many ways without departing. from the spirit of our invention or from the appended claims. For example, instead of employing a yieldingly supported frame adapted to allow numbering dies to slide under the same, we may employ a pair of lateral guide portions 28 rigidly secured to the bed of the press and adapted to have the numeral dies slide interchangeably between them. In this'case, the fixed die parts 28 may carry part of the desired border or other ornamentation, while each of the numbering dies may also carry a cooperating portion of this ornamentation, as shown for example in Fig. 7

Furthermore, we do not wish to be limited to the use of our serial-band-moving mechanism in connection with a punch press, nor to the employing of the resilient and selfadapting rubber die counterpart in connec-.

tion with automatically changed die portions, since these as well as other parts of our invention might obviously be used independently of each other or in other combinations.

" We claim as our invention:

1. A serial legend embossing attachment for an open back punch press having a plunger movable at right angles 'to a rigid bed,

including a plurality of die parts connected to form an. endless loop extending loosely encircling the bed of the press and having a portion of the loop slidable upon the bed of the press, yielding means on the end of the plunger adapted interchangeably to cooperate with one of the said die parts, in embossing a sheet interposed therebetween, and

means operated by the movement of the plunger for successively sliding the consecutive interconnected die parts across the bed of the press into position for such cooperation.

2. A serial legend embossing attachment for an open back punch press, including a plurality of die parts connected to form an endless loop loosely encircling the bed of the press and having a single die part disposed upon the bed of the press, a single yielding die portion on the lower end of the plunger of the press adapted to cooperate interchangeably with that one of the die parts which is opposite the saidplunger end, a frame on the bed of the press carrying auxiliary die portions, and means actuated by the movetill ment of the plunger for successively sliding consecutive die parts into position for cooperating with the said frame for embossinga sheet pressed downwardly by the said yielding portion of the plunger.

3.. A serial legend embossing attachment of an open back punch press, including a over the bed of the press for intermittently. 5

sliding the said loop for predetermined distances so as to bring successive ones of the first named die parts into position for cooperating with the die portion on the plunger. a

4. Mechanism as per claim 1, in which the die part sliding means include means successively engaging the rear of one die part to slide the same and means for engaging the front of another die for stopping the sliding of the loop.

5. A serial legend embossing attachment" for an open back. punch press, including a plurality of die parts connected to form an endless loop extending loosely encircling the bed of the press and having a portion of the loop slidable'upon the bed of the press, a die portion on the plunger of the press "movable at right angles to the said loop portion and adapted interchangeably to coiiperate with the said die parts, and means operated by the movement of the plunger and reciprocating substantially horizontally back of the said die parts for successively feeding the interconnected die parts upon the bed of the press to vary the die parts forming the said loop portion.

6. Means for intermittently advancing a series of legend bearing die parts over the bed of a punch press, including a rocking lever pivotally mounted on the press, means operatively connecting one arm of the lever with the plunger of the press, and a pawl connected to the other end of the lever and adapted to-engage the said die parts suceessively.

7. Mechanism as per claim 6, in combination with a stop arm adapted to limit the advancing of the series of die parts by the pawl, and means carried by the rocking lever for releasing the stop arm.

S ln a serial legend imprinting mechanism, an endless chain including consecutively disposed legend bearing members, a pawl and a stop respectively disposed ion moving the chain longitudinally and for limiting such movement, and an actuating lever connected by a pivot pin to the pawl, the said pin being disposed for engaging the stop during the rearward movement of the lever to move the stop out of its operanism, two parallel endless loops each inclnding dies whose total number is a multiple of neeepree ten and which are consecutively numbered from 1 to 0, each of the dies of one loop bearing the numeral 1 having a recess; and a reciprocating pawl successively engaging the dies in one or the loops to feed them forward, the said pawl having a portion normally riding over the dies of the other loop but adapted to enter the said recess so as to advance the other loop only when opposite the die having the said recess.

10. The method of imprinting consecutively serial legends on blanks in a punch press, which consists in supporting blanks successively on a stripper plate opposite a yieldingly surfaced backing plate, feeding legend bearing die parts successively under the stripper plate, and forcing the backing plate against such positioned die part intermediate of the said feeding.

11. F or use on a punch press in metal plate embossing, a floating frame carrying part of the embossing die, and cooperating die parts housed by the said frame when the press is being operated and adapted to he slid under the frame when the ram of the press is raised, and single means for supporting the floating frame and for guiding the said die parts during their sliding.

12. F or use on a punch press in metal plate embossing, a floating frame carrying part of the embossing die, and cooperating die parts housed by the said frame when the press is being operated and adapted to be slid under the frame when the ram of the press is raised.

13. For use in embossing metal plates, a plurality of die parts slidable on the bed of a punch press for interchangeable use, and a spring supported frame under which the said die parts may be slid when the ram of the press is raised; the said frame being adapted to house any of the said interchangeable parts when depressed, and to cooperate with these parts in the embossing.

14. A serial legend embossing attachment for an open back punch press, including a plurality of die part-s connected to form an endless loop extending loosely around the bed of the press and through the opening in the back of the press, and having a straight portion slidably extending across the path of the plunger of the press, means carried by the plunger for cooperating interchangeably with any one of the said die parts in embossing an interposed sheet, and means operated by the initial part of the downward stroke of the plunger and engaging the second die part from the previously operative one for moving the endless loo longitudinally.

igned at Chicago, Illinois, January 9,

NATHAN LEUNARD. VICTOR ARKIN. 

